


You were only gone for ten minutes... how the f*ck did you change so much?

by BingoBongo269



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24167050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BingoBongo269/pseuds/BingoBongo269
Summary: There was a flash of light and the familiar sound of a portal opening as Five returned to the table. He straightened his tie and his sleeves, Ben thought he glimpsed blood. Five had a smile on his face as he sat back down, a cross between smug and scary, he unstuck his knife from where he had stabbed it into the table, and resumed eating.ORWhat if Five had succeeded at returning to the day he left?
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Reginald Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), Reginald Hargreeves & The Hargreeves
Comments: 16
Kudos: 227





	1. The Return

“I’m not afraid.”

“Fear isn’t the issue, the effects it would have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you from talking about this anymore.” 

Five left the dining room. 

“Number Five, you haven’t been excused! Come back here!”

They could all hear the front door open and close, they could all vaguely hear the gate creak, perhaps only because no one dared to speak, and Grace was maybe the only one of them to hear the distant sound of a portal being opened.

Ben put down his book and hurried up his eating, he didn’t want to be the one everyone was waiting on to be excused from the table because he, like everyone else, wanted to leave as soon as possible.

He risked a glance at Reginald, he refused to call him anything paternal in his head, he looked his usual grumpy self, except his eyebrows were furrowed in anger. This spelled trouble for them all, especially him and Klaus, because anger meant more special training. Most of his siblings wouldn’t mind, Luther, Diego, Allison, and Five liked their powers, they liked developing them and getting stronger, they took pride in it. Instead of special training, Vanya would be practicing her violin and studying their current material, he knew she wished desperately to have powers and to be one of them, but Ben was envious of her, he knew Klaus was too, though the others weren’t, they pitied her. 

He and Klaus didn’t have much in common, he was quiet and Klaus was loud, although Ben sometimes wonders if Klaus was like Vanya, and had no powers, would he be the same? Ben isn’t sure because Klaus has told him that most of the time he’s loud to drown out the ghosts, but Klaus started using drugs to drown out the ghosts and he’s still loud, so Ben doesn’t know. 

The one thing that Ben knows for sure they have in common is that they both hated their powers and their special training. Ben had to try to control the horrors in his stomach for hours, but it was exhausting, primarily because it didn’t want to listen to him, he had tried to ask it why, and all it had said was that it hated Reginald and wanted them to be free. Ben had tried to reason with it, he was thirteen, if he ran away and told the police that Reginald was strict and controlling, best case scenario, Ben and siblings get split up, they rarely, if ever see each other, and never see their Mom or Pogo again. Worst case scenario, the police don’t care or don’t believe him, he has to go back to the Academy, and gets punished with more special training and has his Saturday half hour of free time revoked for the foreseeable future. As Ben had told it several times, their best chance was to just wait until he was eighteen, then he could just leave. It was less than five years away, he told it, but the horrors inside his stomach didn’t like that solution. So no, Ben did not like his special training.

Ben didn’t know what Klaus’s special training was, but he would get taken away until the next morning, and he would come back with red eyes, shaking, and covered in dirt.

When Ben finished eating, he looked around the table and saw that everyone else was mostly done. Good. It would only be a few more minutes, then Ben could go back to his room and keep reading, until their lessons resumed at twelve thirty, it was Saturday after all.

Reginald cleared his throat. “Your time allotted for fun and games has been cancelled for today, as have the rest of your lessons, the rest of the day will be spent on training your abilities.” Ben sighed internally, he knew this was coming, but had hoped they’d still get free time.

There was a flash of light and the familiar sound of a portal opening as Five returned to the table. He straightened his tie and his sleeves, Ben thought he glimpsed blood. Five had a smile on his face as he sat back down, a cross between smug and scary, he unstuck his knife from where he had stabbed it into the table, and resumed eating.

Reginald glared at him. “During your absence, Number Five, the day’s schedule has been altered. The remainder of the day shall be spent on improving your abilities.”

Five ignored him and kept eating.


	2. The Dark

Special training. They were having special training after lunch. Which was almost over. Klaus only had a few bites left of food. He felt like his veins were suddenly filled with a cold, liquid electricity that urged him to run. He stayed put. He tried to finish his food quickly, but his hand was shaking so badly that it was hard to get the fork to his mouth without accidentally scraping himself. He knew it was foolish, but a small part of him still thought that if he did everything right, if he was good enough, if he tried hard enough, maybe, just maybe his father would ease up on him. 

He was rapidly losing this hope, the drugs helped; that and going into the city, meeting people, and realizing that Reginald was a terrible parent. He’d met people who had actually loving parents. It made everything worse, to be aware that other people received parental affection unconditionally, that others didn’t have to run themselves ragged in competition with their siblings for a ‘well done’ once in a blue moon.

He used to still get the occasional compliment when he had his old special training. All he did was meditate in front of a ouija board and try to speak and to summon specific ghosts. It had been difficult to sit still, but sometimes, when he had his eyes closed, and was deep in concentration, he saw this vaguely blue light and he felt like he was in space. His father would say he did great work when this happened. Then Reginald became aware that he was afraid of the ghosts, that the main reason it was so difficult to concentrate was the gruesome ghosts and their almost constant attempts to get his attention with their sob stories, as if he could help them. Klaus would give anything to go back to his old special training.

Klasu managed to choke down the last of his food. He was the last one to finish eating, even Five finished before him, and he missed most of lunch.

“You are dismissed to your training locations.” Klaus’s siblings left the table and walked away, except Five, who portalled away. “Follow me Number Four.” Reginald got up and began walking to the door.

“Um, Dad?” His father stopped, but did not turn around to look at him.

“What is it, Number Four?” He sounded impatient, Five had really angered him.

“I was thinking… that maybe I could go back to my old training, because I think I’ve gotten better at ignoring the ghosts, and-”

“That is precisely why you must continue with your current training. Your own fear distracted you too much from your old training. Your new training is intended to force you to master this fear and to control your abilities. You are meant to control the ghosts, not to ignore them. You may resume your old training and learn precision over your powers once you achieve control.” Reginald started walking again.

“But I don’t know how to do that!” Klaus stood up from his chair. “You never told me how, you just made my fear worse, asshole!” Klaus regretted it as soon as he said it, now everything would be so much worse for him.

His father once again stopped walking, but this time he turned around and faced Klaus. “If you are in need of a hint, I shall provide you with one, Number Four.” His voice was cold. “Running away from your powers by poisoning yourself will not help your fear, it will only increase it. You must face it before it consumes you.” 

“Yes sir.” His voice was weak.

The ride to the cemetery was silent.

Klaus was silent as he entered the Mausoleum. Klaus was silent as Reginald said he would fetch him in the morning. Klaus was silent as the doors closed, trapping him in the dark. 

However, when the remainder of the drugs wore off, and the ghosts appeared and began to scream, he was not silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the reason this chapter is kinda short is because it and the upcoming chapter 3 were going to be one chapter, but it didn't flow very well, so I decided to split them up into two chapters. (That's also why Five isn't really in this chapter, he'll feature more in the next one and have lines, I promise). Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments, they help motivate me! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I didn't mean for this to turn into a Ben character study, it's just what ended up happening. Also, I intended this to be a one shot, but I might continue this, because I love this premise, I'm just not entirely sure where it'll go. If you have suggestions let me know! :) (If you don't, still tell me what you think, I love getting comments!)


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